Suspect arrested over poisoned letter sent to Obama

Federal authorities have arrested a Mississippi man suspected of mailing letters to President Barack Obama and a US senator that preliminarily tested positive for the poison ricin, according to the FBI.

Paul Kevin Curtis was arrested on Wednesday evening in Corinth, Mississippi, by the FBI and local authorities, FBI spokesman Paul Bresson said in a statement.

Both letters said: ‘‘To see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance.’’ Both were signed, ‘‘I am KC and I approve this message.’’ Such wording is used by candidates at the end of campaign ads.

Curtis is also suspected of mailing a tainted letter to a Mississippi justice official, Mr Bresson said.

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The FBI said there was no indication of a connection between the letters and the Boston Marathon bombing. The letters were postmarked April 8, before the marathon.

Someone sending a letter with ricin to the president could face federal charges, including attempting to assassinate the president, according to former prosecutors.

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‘‘Without a doubt that would be a charge any prosecutor would consider,’’ Roscoe Howard Jr, who was US attorney in Washington when letters containing anthrax were mailed to lawmakers in 2001, said. ‘‘A logical standpoint is why else mail ricin to the president.’’

The ricin alert in Washington was kicked off on Tuesday by the discovery of a letter to Senator Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican, that initially tested positive for the toxic substance at a congressional mail facility. That letter prompted Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Terrance Gainer to send an email alert today to senators’ staff members urging them to be ‘‘vigilant’’ and to not accept sealed envelopes that haven’t been screened.

Targeted: A 'suspicious substance' was found in a letter addressed to Barack Obama. Photo: AP

The letter to Obama was identified at a mail facility separate from the one that sorts congressional mail, where a letter suspected of being tainted with ricin and addressed to the senator was discovered on Tuesday.

Initial test

The letter to the president was quarantined at an off-site mail center after an initial test indicated it contained ricin, Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan said. The sample will require more tests to confirm the early results. There was no effect on White House operations, the FBI said.

If ricin is confirmed in testing, the person who sent it also could be charged with attempted murder, use of a weapon of mass destruction and threatening the president, said Benton Campbell, a partner at a New York law firm, who was a Justice Department prosecutor for 16 years.

The suspect letter to Mr Wicker, a Mississippi Republican, was postmarked from Memphis, Tennessee, and initially tested positive for ricin, Mr Gainer said. The Secret Service is working with the US Capitol Police and the FBI in an investigation into the contaminated mail.

Suspicious mail

Mr Wicker was accompanied by two plainclothes Capitol police officers as he left a luncheon meeting of the Senate Republican Steering Committee. He declined to comment on the investigation’s progress, saying authorities had urged him not to speak publicly about it.

Suspicious mail also was reported in the Washington offices of Senators Richard Shelby, an Alabama Republican, and Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat. Manchin is a co-sponsor of a compromise proposal to expand background checks for gun purchasers, scheduled to receive a vote later today on the Senate floor.

Hallways outside their offices were closed off for a time while authorities arrived to investigate the packages.

‘‘If you’re going to be scared to do the right thing, you shouldn’t be here,’’ Mr Manchin said, adding that he remains hopeful that the gun bill’s supporters can win the additional votes needed.

Envelope quarantined

Shennell Antrobus, the public information officer for the US Capitol Police, said force was notified by a mail facility for Congress ‘‘that it received an envelope containing a white granular substance".

‘‘The envelope was immediately quarantined’’ and ‘‘preliminary tests indicate the substance found was ricin,’’ Mr Antrobus said in a statement.

Mr Antrobus said police were investigating two suspicious envelopes in the Hart and Russell Senate buildings. He declined to comment further.

While previously screened Senate mail is being distributed today, delivery will be suspended tomorrow and April 19 while the investigation is conducted and additional testing is completed, he said.

An FBI laboratory will conduct further tests to determine the exact nature of the substance, Mr Bresson said. He said the initial field tests produced ‘‘mixed results.’’ The agency said a laboratory analysis would take as long as 48 hours.

Castor beans

Ricin is a poison made from castor beans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is harmful and potentially fatal if inhaled or ingested, and isn’t contagious, the CDC said on its website.

‘‘You must inhale or ingest it,’’ said Jim Romagnoli, the vice president of emergency management at the North Shore - LIJ Health System in Great Neck, New York.

Symptoms depend on the purity, route of exposure and the dose. Initial symptoms from inhalation occur as early as four to six hours after the exposure, and symptoms include difficulty breathing and a cough, according to the CDC.

The symptoms can progress rapidly to fluid within the lungs and eventually respiratory failure. Deaths from the poison usually happen within 36 to 72 hours. While no antidote exists, doctors can counteract the effects of the poisoning by helping victims breathe or giving them fluids.